UN Report; Governments need to play more roles in combating poverty, inequality

I read with interest Lansan Gberie correspondence on the UN report Combating poverty and inequality; structure change, social policy and politics in this week's The EastAfrican. The suggestion to governments to act fully on trampling inequality was brought b the Roman empire bid ti substitute food and education which brought a 80 years tranquility to the empire. This can be replicated by governments not only to attain poverty reduction in the Millenium Deveolpment Goals (MDG) but avoid skirmishes brought by inequality. The current poverty reduction policies like Aids commissioning and G8 strategic papers overlooks the state intervention by anticipating the ‘tickle down effect’ of wealth to percolate to the poor. This has been ineffective making the need for job creation in open remuneration, social policies in tandem with social cohesion and lastly to upload civic rights as done by governments to be ideal. These three easy strategies will alleviate inequality which will reduce many social ailments on today’s society like poverty, illiteracy, soaring crime rate, unemployment, disease outbreak, famine amongst others. Without equality, rights and justice there will be no peace making achieving MDGs to a mirage, a fleeting moment which we will fruitlessly try to grasp. The just concluded US midterm elections was determined by inequity with the same  strikes and demonstrations felt in Britain, France, Mozambique and South Africa amongst others which flared up violently and with astonishing frequency. To bring the picture closer home to East Africa, the town clerk of Nairobi city (urban are most prone to inequity) Philip Kisia gave a slur that parking in the CBD was for people who could afford the increase of Ksh. 300 from 140. I was dumbfounded, not about the slur, but I remember my stint in Mombasa engineering company where I used to earn Ksh. 300 per day. Now talking about inequality, some of my workmates in this unreliable job had a family depending on the meager pay!